Canonet G-III 17 – poor’s man leica | KEATON ANDREW

I recently added a new camera to my gear case – Canon’s Canonet QL-17 G-III. Whew, that was a mouthful! The ridiculously long name aside, this camera from 1972 has the ability to create some stunning images in the right hands.

The Canonet QL-17 G-III is a wonderful miniature 35mm rangefinder. You don’t focus through the lens like an SLR, you look through the viewfinder on the top right and line up two images until they’ve merged. There are various Canonet cameras, mine has a 40mm f1.7 lens. It’s pocketable and fast! It’s been referred to as the poor man’s Leica, and I back that statement after using it some. It doesn’t match the build or optical quality of a Leica, but for the cost there’s not much that comes close. It’s surprisingly well-built, the camera feels wonderful to hold. It also one-ups most Leicas by having a leaf shutter rather than a focal plane shutter. This means full flash sync up to 1/500 of a second, even with a wireless system such as a Pocketwizard.